SLN, SLA violate ceasefire, Elilan tells SLMM

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 April 2006, 12:06 GMT]The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) collaborating with paramilitaries had violated the ceasefire agreement in the LTTE controlled Muttur east and Vakarai area said Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Saturday. He lodged three separate complaints with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), sources said.

Mr.Elilan told Tamilnet that Saturday afternoon around 1.45 p.m. the third violation of ceasefire agreement had taken place in Sampoor coastal area when the Sri Lanka Navy soldiers stationed in Norway island off west of Sampoor coast had fired heavy weapons on fishermen who were fishing in the sea and those fishermen had fled from the site to save their lives.

"I brought incident to the notice of the SLMM in Trincomalee. The response from the SLN was that they had fired towards the Sampoor coast accidentally when they were testing their weapons. I asked the SLMM whether the coastal villages where thousands of civilians reside had become the testing ground for the SLN to test their weapons. I told the SLMM that it's a serious violation of the ceasefire agreement and to cause an inquiry into my complaint," said Mr.Elilan.

Mr.Elilan said SLA committed two more ceasefire violations at Thonithandamadu in Vakarai division -one on Saturday early morning and the other few hours later between Maruthankerni and Panichchankerni.

SLA and accompanying paramilitaries had attacked the LTTE sentry in the area with heavy weapons including artillery shells in the first incident that took place at Thonithandamadu. Residents of the village had fled from the area and several civilian houses were damaged due to shell attack. Four heads of cattle also died, Mr.Elilan said.

The second attack took place around nine in the morning between Maruthankerni and Panichchankerni. LTTE cadres had attacked a group of SLA soldiers and members of paramilitary when they were waiting in ambush in the no-man zone to attack the LTTE sentry point. A firefight ensued between both parties, injuring one LTTE cadre and the SLA soldiers had fled from the area, Mr.Elilan said.